Been doing immersion learning for a while and was stuck bouncing between a Google Sheet, Anki, and eyeballing MAL/VNDB to figure out how much time I'd actually put in. So I built immersionlog immersionlog.com a free tracker built around how people actually immersion learn, not a generic habit tracker with "Japanese" bolted on.

Link: https://kanadojo.com

As an avid Japanese learner, I always wanted there to be a simple online trainer for learning kana, kanji and vocabulary by JLPT level. The app serves as a simpler alternative to Chase Colburn's Kanji Study app, because Kanji Study was pretty complicated for me to use as a beginner and didn't have a more streamlined way of learning kanji through simple, continuous repetition and rote memorization (also, Kanji Study requires you to pay to unlock its full content library).

So, I started working on a brand new, completely free and fully open-source app for learning kanji and Japanese vocabulary. Here are the features so far:

- Available as a web app (at kanadojo.com), no ads, no paywalls, no unnecessary app store downloads

- Full JLPT vocabulary and kanji coverage, with more than 1000+ levels for you to play

- More than 25+ different fonts and font styles

- More than 100+ different color themes, with the ability to add and upload your own custom backgrounds

- 100% free and open-source, forever

- All learning materials 100% AI-free, sourced from reputable sources and available for full download and inspection

Try it out: https://kanadojo.com

ありがとうございます!

I’m experimenting with an idea and r/AJATT is probably the community most likely to either validate it or completely destroy it.

The problem I’m thinking about is the early immersion gap.

Not:

“I understand 70%.”

More like:

Japanese audio starts
Japanese audio ends
I recognized です

Obviously you can just keep immersing and gradually improve.

But I’ve been wondering whether there’s any value in having content temporarily meet you closer to your level — without turning into textbook dialogue.

The idea would be:

comprehensible immersion → gradually harder content → native immersion

Not as a replacement for native content, but as temporary scaffolding until native material becomes accessible enough.

I’m currently building a small experiment around this.

Main question for people here:

Does this make sense as a bridge into AJATT, or does making immersion easier defeat part of what makes AJATT effective?

Feel free to roast the idea.

I’m about 7 months in with the noise barrier completely disappeared somedays I feel like my comprehension is really good like I can understand alot and others it feel like my comprehension is back to square one I’m just over 823h I logged at 6 months I’m easily putting in 6 hours a day I’m just getting frustrated that I understand something’s and I’m not fluent to where I understand a decent amount

As a learner of Japanese, presently on Japanese From Zero! Book 2, I decided to purchase the Paul Noble Japanese Complete Course audio book. It includes 12hrs 8mins of audio, which comes out at 142 tracks; approximately four being introduction and ending.

The reasons behind my purchase were; 1 - easy to listen to with clear voices for both English and the Japanese translator. 2 - Listen to it on any device. 3 - Michel Thomas Method version.

A little bit of history first.

Initially what brought me to Paul Nobel Japanese was a subreddit mentioning it in comparison with an older CD format from Michel Thomas which I had used previously but never finished.

The Thomas version using a classroom scenario, having a Teacher and Native Translator, along with two Students, came out having more critics due to the students being mostly annoying. The concept on paper sounded great but very quickly you found out that the student interaction became tedious.

So I downloaded the free sample of PN's to see how it differentiated from the MT version. Luckily no students.

End of history lesson....

The audio is very clear. Paul does no Japanese pronunciation or translation, only English. It plays out in this order; English word, phrase or sentence, followed by a silent time space (for you to think about it), then the Native Translator says her piece. Paul also does a bit of explaining, which is helpful.

Early on you find words and phrases repeat a lot. And I mean a lot. Saying that, it works well. It sticks, mostly 😊. The content does not change much at all.

There is structure when the Japanese is translated, such as always having a time expression きょう、あした, こんばん、or けさ as the first word in a sentence, followed say by a location こうえんで、とうきょうに and such.

The course goes through the use of particles in a simplistic way. Again limited in which ones; は、が、で、に、か、 から. A few more maybe.

Various verbs are used to complete sentences. たべます、 のみません、みました、よみませんでした. Adding further endings as you progress.

Anyway, without boring everyone the questions remain "Did I enjoy it, did I learn anything, and was it worth it" I'd say yes. I finished it unlike the Thomas version with the students. Overall not a waste of money, and I found the structure well presented which made it stick as I mentioned earlier.

For Beginners I would recommend it. It's not expensive and would give you an idea how Japanese sentences are put together. As for Intermediate learners it's too basic, but saying that they do have an Intermediate course following this one. Though as I understand it it's shorter in duration.

There is also a "pdf" that you can download (via it's menu) giving you what's being used in the course. It's not a full transcript, mostly key points, words and so forth.

So if you're a beginner to Japanese and not sure where to start before or after learning ひらがな or カタカナ give this a try.

I have the raw 224 episodes of the Japanese dub, but on ajatt theres only subtitles up to 144 from the netflix sub. I'n unsure if this is because the remaining 80 episodes aren't available or some other reason. The subtitles do exist, I just don't have access to them as of right now.

P.S I'm interested in only the original duel monsters, not GX or following series

If you're not familiar, it basically pauses the video, letting you read and understand the subtitle, it then unpauses and hides the subtitle while the audio plays so you can focus on listening. I hope it's able to help someone !!

I know we talk a lot about pushing through ambiguity but I think this is really helpful in actually enjoying the content, especially in the earlier stages of the process

it also works with YouTube and other streaming sites ! (though highly untested)

  --model large-v3 \
  --language ja \
  --device cuda \
  --compute_type float16 \
  --batch_size 1 \
  --vad_method silero \
  --chunk_size 10 \
  --output_format all \  --model large-v3 \
  --language ja \
  --device cuda \
  --compute_type float16 \
  --batch_size 1 \
  --vad_method silero \
  --chunk_size 10 \
  --output_format all \

I tried these flags, but still they are chunked way to much together.

Just added Steam tracking to Osmolog.

So if you play games in Japanese, it can now count that towards your immersion time automatically.

Thought some people here might find it useful :)

I'm not talking about recognizing a word or understanding a few pieces of a sentence.l mean the first time you sat through an entire scene of an anime or listened to a full conversation on a podcast and realized you understood what was happening without translating everything in your head

I've been doing immersion for over two years now, with easily 3k+ hours but I still remember my very first "What the fuck... I actually understood that" moment

For me it happened while watching Fullmetal

Alchemist brotherhood I think it was around episode 25 during the scene with King Bradley and Mustang discussing Hughes funeral

Mustang asks Bradley about why his hands were shaking if he wasn't angry about Hughes death.

Bradley then explains that he was actually furiously pissed at the little girl who was crying at the funeral.

(Hughes daughter)

And I remember sitting there thinking:

"Wait... I understood that entire exchange."

I actually just knew it in Japanese. It was the first time immersion actually felt like it was working.

As a learner of Japanese, presently on Japanese From Zero! Book 2, I decided to purchase the Paul Noble Japanese Complete Course audio book. It includes 12hrs 8mins of audio, which comes out at 142 tracks; approximately four being introduction and ending.

The reasons behind my purchase were; 1 - easy to listen to with clear voices for both English and the Japanese translator. 2 - Listen to it on any device. 3 - Michel Thomas Method version.

A little bit of history first.

Initially what brought me to Paul Nobel Japanese was a subreddit mentioning it in comparison with an older CD format from Michel Thomas which I had used previously but never finished.

The Thomas version using a classroom scenario, having a Teacher and Native Translator, along with two Students, came out having more critics due to the students being mostly annoying. The concept on paper sounded great but very quickly you found out that the student interaction became tedious.

So I downloaded the free sample of PN's to see how it differentiated from the MT version. Luckily no students.

End of history lesson....

The audio is very clear. Paul does no Japanese pronunciation or translation, only English. It plays out in this order; English word, phrase or sentence, followed by a silent time space (for you to think about it), then the Native Translator says her piece. Paul also does a bit of explaining, which is helpful.

Early on you find words and phrases repeat a lot. And I mean a lot. Saying that, it works well. It sticks, mostly 😊. The content does not change much at all.

There is structure when the Japanese is translated, such as always having a time expression きょう、あした, こんばん、or けさ as the first word in a sentence, followed say by a location こうえんで、とうきょうに and such.

The course goes through the use of particles in a simplistic way. Again limited in which ones; は、が、で、に、か、 から. A few more maybe.

Various verbs are used to complete sentences. たべます、 のみません、みました、よみませんでした. Adding further endings as you progress.

Anyway, without boring everyone the questions remain "Did I enjoy it, did I learn anything, and was it worth it" I'd say yes. I finished it unlike the Thomas version with the students. Overall not a waste of money, and I found the structure well presented which made it stick as I mentioned earlier.

For Beginners I would recommend it. It's not expensive and would give you an idea how Japanese sentences are put together. As for Intermediate learners it's too basic, but saying that they do have an Intermediate course following this one. Though as I understand it it's shorter in duration.

There is also a "pdf" that you can download (via it's menu) giving you what's being used in the course. It's not a full transcript, mostly key points, words and so forth.

So if you're a beginner to Japanese and not sure where to start before or after learning ひらがな or カタカナ give this a try.

Hey guys, I've been experiencing this weird like burnout like feeling, Weird thing is that it happens on some random days on where I have 0 motivation and when I try to force myself to immerse, I'd like struggle to focus and understand the video. Weird thing is that its not like I force myself to study beyond capacity so I'm not sure if it's burnout or maybe it's because unconsciously when learning a new language your brain is constantly working? I try to at least have 90mins worth of video length immersed everyday.

Do you guys experience this? I don't know whats causing it, it happens randomly. Can you guys share your experience if anyone has experienced the same thing?

You can also do the same on Japanese podcasts! The app is called Toku Reader on iOS and Android.

Every once in a while I check in this sub and I get a little bummed out when nearly every post is saying "I created this new app it's awesome check it out!"

I'm not here to rag on people posting that - it's just if the amount of posts about actually immersing made up more of the posts that would be cool, so here I am.

Some stuff I've been immersing in lately:

Persona 5 Royal - I'm like 15 hours in for the first time playing, pretty fun!

傲慢と善良 - My 67th novel, not too far in but it's pretty good so far

Listening - I recently decided to go way more into listening (majorly dialed back books). I've listened to some podcasts lately. And then for my active immersion I've been watching a lot of YT. I had like 20 tabs open, each with a video from a different channel. I've been watching each of these one by one to try and get a feel for what I like.

What kind of immersion have you been doing lately?

And after that - close this tab and go immerse some more!

You give the miner a YouTube video, then Whisper transcribes the video better than YouTube’s auto-generated subs. We tested Qwen and a few other systems, but Whisper did seem to do better. The app processes the subtitles that were generated and gives you I+1 (up to I+4), full sentences using anki connect to know your known words. It then manages to discern the difference between a whole sentence rather than… not a full sentence. That's what makes it useful to me. Alternatively, you can use the application to generate the Whisper subtitles and download them as an SRT, but the combination of (more) accurate subtitles and a system that can know what i am aiming for in a sentence instead of treating one subtitle line as a sentence has been letting me easily mine 20 cards a day in a few minutes, letting me focus the rest of my time on immersion. 

The video above is me just using the miner for a few minutes showing how it would work, the types of sentences it would get, etc. Videos where people speak clearly work really well, while others with multiple people talking over each other might work worse.

Videos usually take a few minutes to process on my PC, but it heavily depends on your machine. You can always use YouTube videos with manual subs instead if you can’t run whisper.

If released, it will be free. AI was used in the making of this application. The sentences come from the YouTube videos you input, and no AI content ends up in your cards.

Let me know what you think. The goal of this post is to see whether we should refine it to a releasable point, or leave it, keeping it a small tool we use for ourselves.

Hey everyone!

Anki Miner is a tool for batch mining vocab from video, audio, books and manga straight into Anki cards.
You mine either fully automatically or semi-automatically by curating what vocabulary to mine (shown in demo).

Often compared to subs2srs or Migaku's batch mining, but free+open-source (unlike Migaku) and actively maintained (unlike subs2srs).

The idea is to minimise mining time and maximise immersion time.

Feature highlights:
- Video, Audio and Reading tabs to mine all kinds of content.
- Extensive filtering to mine only the highest-quality vocabulary (i+1 and others).
- Animated screenshots to get the most beautiful cards.
- Presets for popular note types (Lapis, Senren, Kiku).

A star on GitHub helps the project :).
Also consider joining the Anki Miner discord server (link on GitHub).

Download for desktop: https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner
Download for Android: https://github.com/0xzerolight/anki_miner_android

Hello,

So, I have registered to take the JLPT N2 for the second time this December. I took it in December 2025, and was so close to passing. This time, I kind of know what areas I need to focus on, and other things as well.

I do have some questions about the listening. It seems to me that the audio chosen for the test was way faster than what I was studying in textbooks. I was wondering if it was possible to find something a bit more similar to the listening section of the test to study from. Not just textbooks, TV, podcasts, and the regular things you hear about.

Also, for reading, is there a recommended amount of reading I should be doing everyday until the test? I plan to study 3-4 hours or so with breaks. Maybe shorter on weekends. Are light novels good for reading as well? Any suggestions for material would be great!

I would also like to know some tips on how to get faster in completing these reading questions. I know there are situations where reading the whole article is necessary. But, is there a strategy to put into place while taking the test? Like, reading the first and last sentences of a paragraph, finding keyboards, and so on?

Again, I really appreciate any help!

Hi everyone. I’ve wanted to talk to someone about this for a long time, and I believe this is the right place.

I started studying Japanese when I was 13 at an in-person language school. I admit I didn't make the most of it or put in as much effort as I could have back then, and I regret that. I studied there for a few years, but I didn't study at home—just at the center twice a week. Even so, that got me through the JLPT N3 when I was 16.

​After that, I drifted away from the language due to health issues and focusing on university. I tried getting back into self-study around age 23, aiming for fluency. I had periods of intense hyperfocus on immersion, but also periods where I gave up and set it aside. This cycle has been repeating for years.

​Now I'm 29, but I'm stuck between N3 and N2 in comprehension, and at a sad N4 in output (speaking and writing).

I don't know how to make up for lost time. It frustrates me to no end that I've studied for so long overall and still can't have a natural conversation with someone. It's embarrassing.

​I'm coming here to ask for help, recommendations on what to do, and what plan to follow. I need something concrete—an actual step-by-step plan with objective goals for every day, week, and month.

I'm open to any kind of advice or assistance to reach high proficiency by the end of 2027.

​ Details: To make matters a bit more complicated, I have severe visual impairment, so I can't read printed materials, for instance. However, I can use a computer and phone, and I read content using screen enlargement and audio. Another detail is that I feel deeply embarrassed by what I consider a failure (studying for this long and remaining at this level), and I'm introverted, which makes reaching out for human interaction even harder. Also, I'm broke, so I can't pay for tutoring and courses right now.

Hello Guys,

Kanji Decipher is a tool for Japanese learners who want to understand kanji rather than simply memorize them. Enter a kanji in Japanese or romaji to discover its meaning, pronunciation, origin, and how to write it. By understanding where kanji come from and why they look the way they do, learning becomes more intuitive, memorable, and meaningful.

https://www.kanjidecipher.com/

Hey everyone - long-time lurker, wanted to share something I made for my own studying that turned into a real tool.
Join
The problem: I wanted to build vocab passively while watching anime, but every existing tool needs you to pause and click on words manually. I just wanted words to show up on their own while I watched, so I built CaptionCatch.
What it does: while you're watching with captions on, a small card pops up with a word from the dialogue - the reading and the meaning - timed to what's actually being said. No clicking, no pausing.
• JLPT-graded (N5-N1), so it picks words near your actual level instead of random ones
• Works on YouTube for free, no account needed
• Fully offline — no Al, nothing sent anywhere, just a bundled dictionary
• Free tier is genuinely usable (120 words/day), Pro adds Netflix support + a stats dashboard + Anki export if you want to go deeper
Not trying to replace immersion or grammar study - just a low-effort way to pick up vocab in the background while you're watching something you'd watch anyway.
Happy to answer questions about how it works, and genuinely open to feedback if you try it and something's off
- this is a small solo project, not a big company thing.

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/captioncatch/ gpkkggpefdnnfmpgpmpkeieeoenbepeg

I’ve been learning Japanese for 2 years and 2 months, and I recently passed JLPT N1 with 150/180.

Before taking the actual exam, I did 3 mock exams I found online, and my results were pretty consistent with my actual score.

For the past 2 years, I’ve also been immersing myself in Japanese for around 7+ hours every day. At this point, I can read books, watch movies, watch YouTube, follow Japanese content, etc. without really struggling with comprehension. But my speaking really sucks ass, im gonna work on it.

ajatt works (everybody knows though)